Journal safety device



Filed Jan. 9, 1946 H. H. WRIGHTMAN ET AL JOURNAL SAFETY- DEVICE BY WW?July 15, 1947 arry Z0. 0 0

Patented July 15, 1947 JOURNAL SAFETY DEVICE Harry H. Wrightman,Detroit, Mich., and Harry W. Opdyke, Montpelier, Ohio ApplicationJanuary 9, 1946, Serial No. 639,950

1 Claim. 1

box safety device for automatically applying the brakes upon overheatingthrough improper or inadequate lubrication.

One object of this invention is to provide a journal box safety devicehaving a fusible plug in an air brake connection adjacent the bearing orjournal box, together with a plunger-like element which forcessubstantially all of the fusible metal out of the connection when it ismelted by overheating of the journal box, thereby releasing air andcausing the brakes to be automatically applied.

Another object is to provide a journal box safety device as set forth inthe preceding object wherein the connection consists of a fittinginsertable into one of the bearing brasses of each journal box on thecar truck whereby the fusible plug will be quickly melted before seriousdamage is caused by overheating of the bearing and the brakes appliedautomatically upon expulsion of the plug.

Another object is to provide a journal box safety device as set forth inthe recedingobiects wherein the bearing brass is drilled to provide aconnection to the air brake system, the opposite end of the bore havinga tubular fitting therein containing a fusible plug and a pusher elementbehind the plug for expelling the plug material completely uponoverheating of the bearing.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentduring the course of the following description of the accompanyingdrawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a journal box on a railway car truck,partly broken away to show the installation of the safety fitting on oneof the bearing brasses thereof;

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical section through the bearing brass andsafety fitting taken along the line 2--2 in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of a bearing brass of Figure1 drilled to provide a bore connected at one end to the air brake systemand having the safety fitting installed at the other end thereof.

This application is a continuation in part of our co-pending applicationSerial No. 601,420, filed June 25, 1945. In this previous application,

from experience it ha been found that when the fusible plug melts, andis blown outward by the air pressure, often the central-portion only isblown out, the portions adjacent the wall being immediately cooled bythe air blast and prevented from melting. This has resulted in the airrelease passageway being unduly restricted and hence has delayedunnecessarily the time or force of application of the air brake. Thepresent invention provide a pusher element in the form of a plunger-likedisc immediately behind the fusible plug, the disc pushing outsubstantially all of the fusible plug when the latter melts, therebyopening up a large air release passageway for the escape of the air fromthe air brake system, and very rapidly applying the air brakes andhalting the train quickly.

Referring to the drawing in detail, Figure 1 shows a railway car truckgenerally designated l0, having side frames H with depending portions [2between which is slidably guided a conventional journal box i3, as bythe guide flanges l4 which overlie and slidably engage the dependingframe portions l2. The lower ends of the latter are interconnected by atie member l5 bolted thereto as at l6 and having upwardly bent ends l1.

The car truck Ill is provided with wheels l8 mounted on the usual axlel9 rotatably supported by the journals 20 extending into the journal boxl3. The journal box i3 is provided with an internal chamber 2| filledwith lubricant and optionally fibrous wick material (not shown) forfeeding this lubricant to the journal 20. The journal 20 is engaged by abearing brass 22 having lugs 23 engaging vertical ribs 24 on theinnerside walls 25 of the journal box I3. The lower face of the bearingbrass 22 is provided with a bearing face 26 of Babbitt metal or othersuitable bearing material, which provides a bearing surface forengagement with the journal 20. The bearing brass 22 is removably heldin place by a wedge plate 21 inserted between the top thereof and thetop portion 28 of the journal box I3. Connection is made to the car by adownwardly bent frame member 29 having its upper ends 30 (one only beingshown) engaging the rib 3| on the journal box iii. The lower or centralportion 32 of the frame member 29 supports coil springs 33, the oppositeends of which engage the side frames H so as to provide a resilientsuspension therebetween and yieldingly support the weight of the railwaycar.

The bearing brass 22, at any convenient loca tion, such as in one of thelugs 23, is provided with threaded interconnected bores 35 and 36aeaaaos into a threaded portion 45 at the outer end of the plug d2.Seated in'the enlarged portion M of the bore 33 against the annularshoulder 46 therebetween is a pusher disc 41 of relatively high meltingmaterial, Seated in the threaded portion 15 and backing up against thepusher disc 4'! is a fusible plug 48 preferably of fusible metal,melting at a relatively low temperature, this being held in position bythe'threads of the threaded portion 55. The pusher disc 41 is looselymounted in the bore enlargement 44 so as to be freely and slidablymovable therein.

Threaded into the outer end of the bore 35 is an elbow fitting 59 whichis threaded as at 50 to receive a connection 51 for the end of the airbrake pipe 52 which passes through. an aperture 53 in the journal boxl3. The pipe 52 is preferably of flexible construction for connection asat 54 to the air brake conduit 55 which is secured y the bracket 56 tothe side frames I l. The conduit 55 is provided with a control valve 51in a supply line 58 connected as at the T 59 to a branch conduit 60,leading in a similar manner to another journal box l3. The air supplypipe 50 leads to the conventional brake operating mechanism of the cartruck in the usual manner.

In the operation of the invention, with the device installed andconnected as shown in the drawings and described above, if for anyreason the journal bearing is caused to overheat to a dangerous point,this heat is transmitted to the liollow safety plug 52 where it heats upthe fusiple metal plug (it), the transmission of heat thereto beingassisted by the pusher disc 31. Under the influence of this heat, thefusible metal plug 48 melts, whereupon the pusher disc d7, impelled bythe air pressure within the bores 3i? and 36 from the air brake systemof the train, is forced outwardly, pushing ahead of it the meltedportion of the fusible plug 48 and expelling substantially all of thefusible plug. This action is sudden and positive, and opens up a largeport substantially the full diameter of the bore 43 in the safety plug32, venting the air from the air brake system almost instantaneouslyafter the pusher disc 47 is expelled. The escape of the airautomatically applies the brakes to the wheels I8 and brings the car toa halt in accordance with the well-known operation of railway air brakesystems. Thus the car comes to a halt before serious damage is caused.

This braking action is not delayed by the relatively slower ventingwhich occasionally occurs with prior devices when a fusible plug is usedwithout a pusher disc 47 or other equivalent expelling member. In suchprior devices, the melting of the fusible plug occasionally occursunevenly so that a small portion only of the plug is expelled before theoutrushing air coolsthe remainder of the plug so quickly as to preventits expulsion. Under these circumstances, only a comparatively smallpassageway is occasionally melted through the fusible plug and theventing of the air brake system is either ineffective or takes place soslowly that damage is caused before the brakes are eifectively applied.The present invention, by the provision of a pusher member for expellingthe fusible plug avoids this disadvantage since substantially all of thefusible plug is expelled simultaneously and the cooling effect of theoutrushing air has no such adverse eiTect upon the action of the safetydevice.

While we haveshown and described our invention in detail, it is to beunderstood that the same is to be limited only by the appended claim,and that many changes may be made without departing from the spirit andscope of our invention.

What we claim is:

A safety device for railway trains equipped with air brake systemscomprising a bearing unit hav- ,ing an air passageway extending througha portion thereof, an air brake conduit coupling mounted at one end ofsaid passageway for connection to said air brake system, a tubularfitting mounted at the other end of said passageway and having a boretherethrough terminating at its outer end in an enlarged counterbore,said fitting having a shoulder between said bore and counterbore andhaving a solid side wall surrounding said co'unterbore, a relativelylow-melting fusible plug secured in the outer portion of saidcounterbore, and a. relatively high-melting pusher disc loosely andslidably mounted in the inner portion of said counterbore with onesurface thereof in abutting engagement with said shoulder and the othersurface in abutting engagement with said fusible plug, said usher dischaving an edge wall which is relatively thick in proportion to itsdiameter, guidingly engaging the side wall of said counter- .bore.

HARRY H. WRIGHTMAN.

HARRY W. OPDYKE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,690,050 Blair Oct. 30, 19281,317,759 Ross Oct. 7, 1919 2,128,091 Iversen Aug. 23, 1938 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 5,440 Great Britain 1886

